Chapter 1 Tuesday the Morning After

The events of the night had unfolded rapidly with Eric's brother, his maker, and Colman, the father of Claudine's baby, all dead and falling to pieces in various spots around my yard. I'd gone inside to take a much needed shower and came out to find my great-uncle Dermot and my cousin Claude sitting on my bed waiting for me to enter it. They told me that we would all feel better if we were close to one another. I was tired and chalked it up to one of those weird Faery quirks.

I fell to sleep very quickly and had no bad dreams that night. I awoke to the smell of freshly brewed coffee. I was sore from the night before; after all, I'd been through a lot. I got out of bed and shuffled off to the bathroom to freshen up a bit before meeting my houseguests in the kitchen. On the way past the phone, it rang, and Remy Savoy, Hunter's father, was on the other end wanting to know if he could drop by later with Hunter. He said that Hunter had been talking about nothing else but seeing Aunt Sookie again.

"I'd love to have him," I told Remy, "but I do have some company. Actually, it's family, so if you wanted to drop by to have Hunter meet his great-great uncle too that would be nice. Maybe I could invite my brother over and we could have a nice family dinner, and maybe roast some hotdogs or burgers on the grill, does that sound like fun?"

"Yes, that sounds fine. I'd like to meet all these people. Hunter spoke about Claude, who is your and Hadley's cousin, right? He said they had fun playing in the park. I also wanted to talk to you about a dream that Hunter says he had about a tall blond man that came into his room and lives in the closet. Do you know anything about that?"

Oh hell. "I can explain that too, sorry about that. My boyfriend, Eric, came to see me after work and he didn't want to drive all the way back to Shreveport. He crashed in the closet. He's a vampire." Crashed in the closet? He's a vampire? What was I nuts?

"Maybe you should make sure you invite him too. I want to talk to you about Hunter a little, so I want to meet anyone in your life that you might introduce him too, just so I know what I am going to ask is a good thing for all parties concerned."

"Umm, okay, how about barbeque at six o'clock?" I said, not knowing where else to go with this conversation.

"Six it is, Sookie. I'll see you then." I said good bye and cradled the receiver. Oh boy. I had to run to the market, get some TrueBlood for Eric and Pam for this evening, hotdogs and buns and some potatoes to make some potato salad. Oh Eric. I had to call him up and leave a message to come here. Damn, I forgot I was going to meet him as his in Shreveport house for our special evening. Well, he'd just have to come here instead.

I dialed and it kicked into his voice mail right away. "Eric, I can't make it there tonight. Would you and Pam be able to come down here? I am having an impromptu~" BEEP! The machine squeaked at me before I had a chance to finish. I hate that! I toyed with the idea of calling again to finish the message, but didn't. He'd call me regardless as soon as he got up.

I called Jason to invite him and Michele to the event. "Hello?" Jason said as he answered the phone.

"Hey there brother. I am having a family barbeque tonight. Can you come over and you can bring Michele if you want to?" I was going to tell him about Remy and Hunter, but I thought what the hey, I'd just spring everyone in my life on everyone else and have done with it.

"Sure. Are you celebrating Eric's liberation or something?" he asked. Now there was a good idea, or maybe not. What was the etiquette for the termination of a maker? I really wish someone would write a vampire cheat sheet for sticky situations like this.

"No. I just wanted to have all of the family over for a barbeque so everyone could meet everyone else and get to know one another better." Not too far from the truth.

"We'll be there. This is nice, being adults and acting like it," he said. I let it go when I could have made a snarky remark about some of us having been adults for quite a while now while others…but I just let it go like a good sister.

"Yes it sure is. Are you recovered from last night?"

"I'm fine. You?"

"Surprisingly. See you at six then?" I wanted to end the conversation and get my morning cup of joe.

"See ya, Sook."

I hung up the phone and sauntered into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. Dermot was sitting across from me with a big grin on his face and Claude was off to the side looking equally pleased about something.

Claude began, "Did you sleep well last night, Cousin Sookie?"

"Yes," I smiled back at him, though cautiously, "I slept like a log, why?" I asked with my eyebrow raised in question.

"No reason, just asking," said Claude with his picture perfect smile.

I dismissed their oddness, again chalking it up to being Faeries. "What are you two doing today?"

"I am not doing anything, Niece. Do you need me to do something with you?" asked Dermot.

"For me." I corrected. "And yes. I want to have the back yard all lighted up with fairy lights, so if I go into town and do some shopping, will you help me later?"

He was stunned. Maybe he'd never heard of fairy lights? I asked him. "No. There are so many things for me to learn about your world. True I have been here for many years, but I have been cursed for many of them, and I remember little. Please enlighten me as to what fairy lights are."

I explained what they were, thinking I had my work cut out for me to try to educate my great-uncle all about my world. I hoped that good ol' cousin Claude would help me out a little bit in that department. On the way to the shower I pondered how long they might stay here with me in this house, now that the danger was past. I made a mental note to ask Claude later.

I took a quick shower and toweled myself off and reached into my undie drawer for a fresh pair and came across a slip of paper. My heart did a little flip-flop when I realized it was the check and Mr. Cataliades had dropped off. I hadn't seen so many zeroes on anything in my life. I secretly wondered if I was richer than Eric!

I got dressed quickly and decided to make a trip to my local bank. I think I needed to get a "Mr. Drysdale," like on the Beverly Hillbillies. I decided to make a trip to my local credit union where I had banked my whole life to see if they were able to help me. I needed a little cash anyway for my trip to the grocery store and Wal-mart.

"Dermot, Claude," I called up the stairs, "I'm leaving for town now. Is there anything you need?"

"Sookie," replied Claude, "can Dermot go with you? He finds that he needs some clothing. He really doesn't have anything to wear."

"Yes, I suppose," I said not really wanting to take anyone, but in for a penny, in for a pound, "would you like to go to so I get the right clothing?"

"Oh yes," said Claude with dancing eyes. I didn't know what was up with him this morning, but something was afoot.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed my purse and said, "Well come on then, we've got a lot to do."

A/N: Hello to all. I hope that you've read and enjoyed my last attempt at story telling. I thought I should try again for fun, so please let me know what you think! (I am going to try only one POV this time through as a challenge.)

Not all chaps will be this short, but I just wanted to get something out there so I committed myself. I have about ten chapters mapped for the full story, but that turned into about 40 last time, so we may be on a thrill ride again...yikes!

Disclaimer: All characters are the creation of the marvelously talented Charlaine Harris who is awesomer than words, and generous for sharing! Thanks for letting me play with the kids again!